September 14, 2011

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has something new to judge: Architecture.

The justice, who has a longstanding, passionate interest in the field, will join the jury of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is sponsored by Chicago's billionaire Pritzker family, Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of the family's Hyatt Founation, announced Wednesday.

The London-based architect Zaha Hadid, who won the prize in 2004 and is renowned for buildings with boldly fluid forms, will also join the jury.

Given annually and recognizing "significant contributions to humanity and the built environment," the award is considered the most prestigious in its field. Yet some architecture critics took the prize to task this year for becoming predictable. Asked whether the new appointments to the jury were a response to the criticism, a spokesman for the prize declined to comment.

"Breyer personally interviewed the architects applying for the project. He consulted with community and environmental groups," The Washington Post reported in 1994. "While cycling through the countryside of France three years ago, Breyer stopped, gazing at the buildings he encountered, talking animatedly with the locals about their design. He called his aunt in San Francisco to ask about how to make the building more accessible to children. He visited courthouses around the country, mining for ideas, and pored over the original plans for the Supreme Court in Washington, all the while insisting on a Boston complex that would expand the definition of courthouse from legal to civic, a place open in the evenings and weekends, a place inviting to the community."

A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court said Wednesday that Breyer would not be paid for serving on the Pritzker jury and that his role will include travel. Typically, the Pritzker jury visits buildings by architects who are contenders for the award.

Justices are allowed reimbursement for expenses associated with travel, said the spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg, and those must be reported on Breyer's annual disclosure report.

Asked whether Breyer would recuse himself if a case involving the Pritzker's Hyatt hotel chain or the family's other business holdings came before the court, Arberg said he would evaluate whether recusal will be required on a case by case basis.

With the inclusion of Breyer and Hadid, the Pritzker jury will have eight members, including its chairman, British arts patron Peter Palumbo, and Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, who won the Pritzker in 2002. The award, typically given in the spring of each year, this year went to Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura.

(Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

Posted at 10:00:00 AM

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Justices are allowed reimbursement for expenses associated with travel, said the spokeswoman, Kathy Arberg, and those must be reported on Breyer's annual disclosure report.